WAR CRIMES AND ATROCITIES: PUTIN'S "SPECIAL MILITARY OPERATION"

NY Times

"As the Russian army's advance came to a halt north of Kyiv, the occupiers apparently began indiscriminately murdering civilians: people riding their bikes or walking their dogs. Impressions from a city filled with destruction and death.

The Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND), Germany’s foreign intelligence service, has acquired gruesome new insights into the atrocities committed by Russian military forces. DER SPIEGEL has learned that the BND has new satellite images and has intercepted incriminating radio traffic from Russian military personnel in the region north of Kyiv, where Bucha is located. Some of the intercepted radio traffic might be linked to dead bodies that have been photographed in Bucha.

Following the withdrawal of the Russian military from the town over the weekend, a mass grave was discovered as well as the bodies of several dozen dead civilians left lying on the streets. The hands of some of the victims had been tied, while other bodies showed signs of torture. Numerous women and children are also reportedly among the victims.

The Russian government has vehemently denied that Russian forces are responsible for these war crimes. Several – completely unsubstantiated – claims have been made that the alleged war crimes have been staged by Ukraine. Those claims, however, are contradicted by the statements of numerous witnesses interviewed by reporters from DER SPIEGEL and other news outlets in the town of Bucha.

The road leading into Bucha from the south is lined with pastureland. On the way into town, you’ll pass a white Ford station wagon, its doors marked clearly with black tape spelling out the Cyrillic letters "дети," which means "children" in Russian. The tires of the car are flat, and the front of the vehicle is almost completely torn off. There are clothes lying on the ground next to the vehicle. It looks a lot like a family’s attempt to flee the town came to a sudden end here.